Another player that might not have made Fear the Fin’s Top 25 San Jose Sharks Prospects Under 25 list if it weren’t for some last-minute trades is Georgi Romanov. But with the trades, the Russian goaltender, who just completed his first season in North America, makes our cut and it is well-deserved.
Not everybody gets to play in the three highest levels of professional hockey in their first go, but Romanov is one of the unique few. Throughout the 2023-24 season, Romanov was in the crease for stints at the ECHL and NHL while spending the majority of his season in the AHL with the Barracuda.
Position: Goaltender
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 210 lbs.
Age: 24
Date of Birth: December 15, 1999
Draft Year: Undrafted
Catches: Left
2024-25 Team: San Jose Barracuda
Between the two main netminders for the Barracuda last season (Romanov and Magnus Chrona), Romanov had the better numbers. The 24-year-old played in 29 games and ended the season with a 9-9-8 record. He finished with a 3.14 goals against average and a .904 save percentage. That’s not bad considering he was backstopping one of the worst teams in the AHL. On March 2, 2024, Romanov made a career-high 47 stops in a 2-3 shootout loss against the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
As season debuts on North American ice go, it wasn’t a bad one and his performance was solid enough to earn him a few visits to the Sharks as well. While he never started a game, he was admirable in the backup role. Romanov came into two games in relief capacity on April 15 and April 18. In those games, he stopped 30 shots and finished with a combined 1.01 goals against average and a .967 save percentage. The sample size is small, but he held his own.
What we like
Credit to the Sharks coaching staff for grabbing Romanov when no other team seemed to have him on their radars. The young netminder was undrafted and unscouted, so when he signed with the Sharks in May 2023, not many people knew about him.
Now that we’ve had a season to watch him play, Romanov shows some promise. As we said before, he was the best goalie for the Barracuda last season. He is an athletic netminder who moves side to side very well. Even when he allows a goal, it’s not because he’s made the wrong move.
Areas of improvement
For goaltenders, there are so many little things that they need to do positionally, so it’s a constant learning process. That’s no different for Romanov, who appears to have the raw skill and athleticism but needs to refine it.
Moving forward, he will need to work on making those saves after he slides across. Admittedly, the highlight below might not be the best example. He is facing a 50-plus goal scorer (Zach Hyman) who receives a pass from the current best NHL player in the world (Connor McDavid), but it feels like with a little more experience, he might have made the save below.
Connor McDavid's 100th assist of the season.
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) April 16, 2024
Zach Hyman's goal
9-1 #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/fTnkSubmGM
What’s next for Romanov?
Romanov will return to the Barracuda this season, where he will have to share the net once again. The addition of Yaroslav Askarov means that Romanov will likely have to take a backseat in net, though it won’t last long.
There’s a pretty good chance that Askarov will be with the Sharks by the trade deadline, if not sooner. There’s a reason he was willing to sign a new contract with San Jose and it’s because there’s a clear path for him to the NHL. That’s good news for Romanov as well. Once Askarov moves up, it will be Romanov’s net.
What he does in the latter half of the Barracuda season will be very interesting.
Highlights
Romanov was impressive from the outset with the Barracuda, making saves like this one in November. His ability to stick with the play and not just make the initial save but the one after that was a good showing of his athleticism.
Georgi Romanov with highway robbery! pic.twitter.com/kUVVquGimV
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) November 5, 2023
And, I had to add this one in because no one expected the netminder to make his way to the NHL this quickly. He was calm, cool and collected in relief of the starting goaltenders and made his first NHL save on April 15.
Georgi Romanov's first NHL save. pic.twitter.com/GFuHRfE3wo
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) April 16, 2024
Was it a difficult save? No. But it was against one of the best teams in the league.
It will be fun to see where Romanov goes in the next few seasons and how his development progresses. Yes, Askarov appears to be the goaltender of the future, but teams have proven that a solid 1B option is almost essential if you want to go far in the playoffs. Romanov could serve as that homegrown 1B option.
